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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Just for
Lake

BREAD
AND CIRCUSES? RIGHT ON. He needs cheering up. He lives in
Connecticut surrounded by liberals. Who can blame him if there's one
arena in which he feels no need to be the sore thumb? He's a
Patriots fan, even though by birth he's got Eagles blood. I could
claim I'm throwing him a bone with this post, but I'm not really.
I'm just being honest.

I'd like to announce that I'm officially done with hating Tom Brady.
I'm still not fond of the Patriots, but I'm done with hating them
too. There is precedent. I used to hate John Elway with a passion.
That grin. God, he made me mad. Then, late in his career, I finally
realized he was just really really good, and why shouldn't he win
the big games? Over a long career with consistent results, it can't
all be luck and favorable calls from referees, etc. I rooted for him
in his final Super Bowl appearances. I stopped grimacing at the
grin. He was having a good time. Why shouldn't he grin?

So it is with Tom Brady. In the endless debate over Peyton, Brady,
Peyton, Brady, Peyton, Brady ad nauseam, I always sided 100
percent with Peyton. Peyton was cool and smart, Brady was a lucky
pretty boy swimming in Bellichick's bottomless well of talent. When
you've had more success and praise than most who have ever played
the game, why are you still smoldering over the slight of not having
been drafted higher? You were never a starter at Michigan. Why would
you have been drafted higher? And, yeah, Michigan. My Buckeye mother never liked Tom Brady.
Michigan.

But I was wrong. Cracks have been forming in my assessment of Brady
for several years now. I've seen him furious on the sidelines. He
has nothing left to prove by any measure. He'll be first ballot Hall
of Fame even if his throwing arm falls clean off his shoulder today
or several years ago. Yet his hatred of losing is white hot,
probably not more or less than it was when I wasn't noticing. Why
he's one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game.

The Peyton-Brady debate is a waste of time. They're both stupendous
superstars. We're privileged to watch them play. Neither is
responsible for the league's determination to protect them from
injury. The only NFL games I've ever seen were the Patriots when
they played Sundays at Harvard stadium. I remember the incredible
gentleness with which opposing teams sacked Joe Namath. More than
anyone else, he was responsible for the consolidated NFL and the
prosperity it brought all professional players. No one wanted to be
responsible for putting the finishing touch on Namath's two glass
knees. The notorious tuck rule is not Brady's fault. He's every bit
as game as the Manning who plays with a broken neck. (Hardly surprising that he gets sacked as tenderly as Namath. They're not quite so kind to Brady? His hair, you think?)

I've known this for longer than I care to admit, but last night's
game has finally pushed me to quit pretending. The Texans bought the
cliche that the way to beat Brady was to get in his face, make him
nervous with constant pressure, sacks, and knockdowns. They were
wrong. My favorite image from that game was J.J. Watt's baffled face
on the sideline. He kept knocking Brady on his ass, and it didn't
change a thing. Brady killed the Texans anyway, drilling merciless
holes in a vaunted defense that can stop everything but genius.

Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are getting old in NFL terms. I'm
getting old in absolute terms. Too old to pretend that incredible
talent, fortitude, and unrelenting hard work are dismissible as luck.
Michigan aside, I'm prepared to admit that I've become a Brady fan
at last. I think they'll win the Super Bowl this year.

My reasoning? They'll win the AFC championship because
Roethlisberger won't be fully healed before the playoffs, and the
Broncos, as Peyton keeps telling us in every interview, don't have
10+ years of common experience with their recuperating ace. They'll
win the Super Bowl because Brady is still better than Eli Manning is
inspired (and lucky) and better than Aaron Rodgers is, period.

Not that we won't be watching anyway. All I'm saying is that I won't
be surprised, mad, or anything but admiring if Brady ups his
Super Bowl record to 4 and 2.